The Lovely Seaside
by Rayvah
Summary: A little girl goes on a long journey to a place she only sees in her dreams.


_I wrote this story awhile back, so the style is a little rudimentary -- but I hope you like it!_

* * *

Once upon a time there was a girl who was completely insane. She lived in a world where violet toadstools grew from fields of purple grass that stretched into the distances, meeting the pink sky somewhere far away. On one side of this world, the wall where the sky met the ground stood. On the other, a great forest stretched as far as the girl could see.

The girl had lived here as long as she could remember. She would wake up in the morning and would stare at the plum forest. Everyday at noon the toadstools that sat in the field would stand up and shake the fuchsia dirt off their feet. They would then start to dance with the girl.

Some of the toadstools would go into the forest and would come back and bring cranberry water for the girl. After the girl drank her fill she would lift the toadstool by the trunk and pop it into her mouth.

They were very soft and delicious, and they were happy to serve the girl in any way they could.

The toadstools that did not go into the forest would stay and dance with the girl. Everyday they would dance with the girl until it was their turn to go into the forest, and bring back water for her...before she picked them up by the trunk and popped them into her mouth to chew on thoughtfully.

The toadstools would gather around her and watch (as much as a plant, lacking eyes, can watch) as thick juices dribbled from her mouth.

No toadstool had ever known pain or fear. So, as they watched the girl they cared for gnaw silently on the bodies of the chosen, every one of them believed it was the path to heaven.

At the end of the day the girl would lay down in the grass and sleep until the sky became bright again. Then she would once again dance with the toadstools and consume the chosen ones.

She would stay in one spot for several days -- until the toadstools were completely gone. Then she would move on.

Now, the wall where the field met the sky was very intriguing to the girl. For no matter how close she got to it, no matter how much she chased it -- she was never able to catch it.

So she went towards it, a little bit every few days, as her food ran out. But as time wore on the girl grew anxious to reach the wall where the earth and sky met.

So, instead of staying in one place until the toadstools were gone, the girl decided to move on a little after each night.

The toadstools were confused and a little worried by this. For every toadstool had already heard the tale since they were very small, of the girl who would come and open the path to heaven.

So, instead of settling back into the soil they decided to follow the girl. At first, the few extra toadstools were not noticeable at all. But soon the girl saw that there were more toadstools near her now than had ever been before.

She thought this meant that the earth was changing and that she was getting closer to where she needed and wanted to be.

One night, the girl had a dream that she was walking through the field -- but this time the field was empty of toadstools. She kept walking towards the wall where the field met the sky -- as she always did. She walked for a long time without seeing anything different -- as she always did.

Soon, though, she began to see something shimmer on the wall. She ran towards it, certain it was what she had been searching for. She ran and ran. The shimmer seemed to grow, and spread across the wall she ran to meet it.

It grew and grew until finally the picture in front of her became a lovely lavender beach. She could go forward no more. Then she saw, out of the corner of her eye, a very small row boat -- one that looked large enough to take one little girl further into a wall where earth and sky meet.

Sitting in front of the boat, however, was a very large pile of what looked like moss that was a very beautiful shade of violet. The girl knelt down by the pile of moss and ran her hands over it.

As she was doing this, she noticed a small crack in the moss. It didn't seem threatening, so she slipped her hand inside.

She felt her hand close around something hard and began to tug on it. It was lodged firming in the moss and she had to pull hard to work it loose. Finally it came through the hole and dropped in her hand.

She opened her hand to see what was resting inside. It was a small bone, small enough to be a finger. This did not scare her. She'd seen the shape of bones often enough when stretching the skin on her own fingers that so often took the purple hue of everything surrounding her.

Except this bone was _white_. A horrible, blinding **_white_**.

As she was staring at it, the moss shell seemed to fall back, like a flower blooming to reveal something precious inside.

A skeleton fell from the moss onto the lavender sand.

And it was so _WHITE_. So horribly **_WHITE_**.

The girl screamed.

* * *

She woke up screaming.

She looked around and saw she was surrounded by the familiar purple grass and familiar violet toadstools, and took comfort in that.

She stood and stretched, wiping the sleep from her eyes. Some of the toadstools stood and seemed to look at her questioningly. The girl decided her dream must have come from traveling for too long, and decided to rest that day.

She sat in the field, letting the toadstools dance over her arms and legs and fingers -- every once in awhile, popping one into her mouth. That night, she had no dreams, and knew she was right to have taken this day to rest.

She traveled that day -- and when she woke the next, the toadstools were even more abundant -- and she was certain she was close to her goal.

The girl traveled more often, but on these days, the dream would return. She would see the **_white_** bones, and always wake to find herself screaming.

The days she would rest and eat to replenish herself, these dreams were absent, but she had to reach the wall where the field and sky met.

As she was traveling one day, she saw the shimmer on the wall appear, as it had in her dream. But despite her sense of foreboding, she drove herself onward -- sleeping little, always to wake surrounded by even more toadstools.

She no longer had a mind to dance with them anymore though, and would only eat to sustain her strength to travel.

Every day the shimmer grew larger, as did her following of toadstools. One day, the shimmer on the wall stretched and split across the middle. The girl ran and ran to reach it. She finally did and found herself on the same lavender beach that had haunted her dreams. And it was just as lovely.

She also saw the boat on the shore that was waiting for her, and made her way towards it. The toadstools gathered around her. They were all waiting to be Chosen. They had known since they were small that the only destiny for them in life was to be Chosen by The Girl.

But this past season, The Girl had been driven by a fever the toadstools did not understand. But they did know she was trying to leave them.

None of their kind stood that had ever seen the end of the world -- so they did not known what was there. But when they Saw, they knew The Girl, their only destiny, was trying to leave them.

They gathered in front of her, in front of her way out.

She stood wide-eyed and watched as the pool of toadstools grew and grew in front of her. She could not pass them. They seemed to swarm upon each other like one giant creature.

She heard voices whisper in her head.

_...you cannot leave until you have Chosen us...  
...choose us...  
...you must take us with you..._

The girl was horrified and stepped back, only to trip over the toadstools gathered behind her.

The wave of toadstools moved to cover her. Her legs were bound, then her chest. Finally, they moved to cover her face.

_...Chose us...  
...you cannot leave...  
...cannot leave us..._

She screamed. But by then, no one could hear.

* * *

Seasons passed.

The fields are empty of toadstools, and anyone passing by would never know any had existed at all.

Miles away, a large dune sits on the beach, next to an old, rotting rowboat. The hill has been there for a long time, the seaside creatures and plants making their homes in it -- covering it in a thick blanket of moss. A violet moss not usually found on a beach.

It is very lovely.


End file.
